FENLAND’s renewable energy drive is back in the limelight after a plan to build the area’s first solar farm was put back before councillors.

Fenland District Council rejected The Abbey Group’s initial plans to build a 35-acre solar farm at Burnthouse Farm in Turves earlier this year.

Councillors said the farm - set to provide 5MW of power, enough to support up to 1,200 homes - would result in an “unjustified” loss of high-quality agricultural land for a minimum of 25 years.

But the Abbey Renewables branch of the Whittlesey-based firm has appealed against the decision and re-submitted its original application to councillors.

The Turves Solar Farm would generate green energy without any noise or pollution by converting rays from the sun into electrical energy.

Each solar panel would be one metre wide by 1.67m high and would rise 2.2m above ground level. It is thought the site could provide electricity for more than 35 years.

Abbey has worked with the council before to build a wind turbine on its Funtham’s Lane site in 2008. It now forms part of a larger wind farm with McCain’s.

The plan is the second solar farm bid to be presented to the council. Plans for a farm on a 23-acre site at Black Bush Farm, Reach Drove, Whittlesey, will be considered by the council’s planning committee later this month.

The proposals put forward by Lark Energy, a subsidiary of Larkfleet Homes, is designed to deliver 2.7MW of power, which could power around 650 homes.

Fenland has already embraced renewable energy and is home to 35 wind turbines. Fenmarc, in March, is developing an anaerobic digestion plant to use waste vegetables to create energy.